Breeding seasonality

Mar in Tanzania, Feb-Mar in Zambia, Oct-Apr in Malawi, Oct-Nov in Botswana, Nov-Mar (mainly Jan-Feb) in Zimbabwe and Dec in Mozambique; mainly Nov-Jan, with some earlier and later records, in South Africa

Published breeding information

bondPolygynous, with two or three females per maleseasonMar in Tanzania, Feb-Mar in Zambia, Oct-Apr in Malawi, Oct-Nov in Botswana, Nov-Mar (mainly Jan-Feb) in Zimbabwe and Dec in Mozambique; mainly Nov-Jan, with some earlier and later records, in South Africansiteplaced chiefly in bed of Phragmites reeds, bulrushes or papyrus, occasionally in tree, c. 2.5 m above water or groundnbuildwoven by male, lined by femalecolsizeColonial, with up to 300 nests togetherclutch2-3 eggs (average 2.4 in Malawi)eggcolourusually plain dark chocolate-brown or olive-brown, sometimes blue-green and heavily marked with grey-brown specks, or greenish-white with heavy red-brown markingseggsizeaverage size of 45 eggs 21 x 14.5 mm (South Africa)incubincubation by female only, period 14-17 dayschickschicks fed by female alone, nestling period 14-19 days

All PHOWN news items relating to this species

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